Table-leg-clam ping device



Patented lune 6, |899.

W. B. MCLEAIL PATENT union..

W'ILLIAM B. MCLEAN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

TABLE-*LEG-CLAIVI PING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 626,554, dated June 6, 1899.

Application filed January 6,1397. Serial No. 618,188. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. HCLEAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania., have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Table-Leg- Clamping Devices, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to means for fastenf ing legs to tables so that they maybe quickly and easily put in place or separated from the table when desired, thus serving to facilitate the manufacture and cheapen the cost of what is known as knockdown tables, from which the legs are removed to make them compact and convenient either for shipment or storage.

The object of my invention is to producea clamping device of very simple construction and little cost that is fully adapted for use by any manufacturer of tables-that is to say, a clamping device that is adapted to be firmly secured to the rails of a table by the same means that connect and fasten the legs; also, that when in place will maintain an elastic strain on the parts clamped together by its use sufficient to give to and take up the eX- pansion or contraction said parts are subject to from moist or dry conditions of the atmosphere. How I accomplish this object is fully set forth in the following speciication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part thereof.

My invention consists of a plate having an aperture to receive suitable fastening means and which is slitted at the ends to form lugs and tongues which are bent in opposite directions and angularly disposed in relation to each other and such other novel features as are shown or described in the specification and particularized in the claims.

Figure I is a horizontal sectional View of my invention, showing it applied to a table, the connecting-bolt and nails only showing in full lines. Fig. II is a perspective view of my invention.

Likenurnbers indicatelike parts in both ligures.

l is a plate of suitable width, length, and thickness, preferably of steel,having a slight springynature. A slotted opening 8, of such form as will permit the head of a bolt to pass 'each end, all the sides of which are made nearly parallel, and they extend from the plate at nearly right angles in practically parallel direction, so they will slide into and fitmortises having parallel sides, and the forward ends of these lugs 3 3 are made flat and square Withthe sides, so as to form proper surfaces for impingelnent against the bottom of such mortises, which should also have parallel sides and at bottoms made square with their sides. On the side opposite to thelugs 3 3 at each end this plate 1 is also provided with sockets 5 5, through which nails maybe driven for the purpose of preventing the lugs 3 3 withdrawing from their mortises. These sockets 5 5 are preferably formed in the tongues et 4, which are produced by cutting portions from the lugs 3 3 and turning or bending said tongues backward to an angle of forty-iive degrees. I prefer having these anges in which to make the sockets, because they furnish additional support to the tablerails.

The mortises required in the table-rails for my invention should not be longer than the lugs 3 3, so that the weakening is avoided which is caused by cutting rails across the inner face from edge to edge, as is now done to fit them for many styles of table-leg clamps now in use. Other distinguishing features of my invention whereby most desirable results are accomplished are in this that the lugs 3 3 are adapted to extend into rails having mortises which fit their parallel sides in a direction parallel with that in which the clamping force is exerted, and this force is resisted and the clamping pressure sustained by the. flat square edges of the lugs 3 3 impinging onthe flat bottom of the mortises on a plane at right angles to the direction of its force, the springy nature of the plate l maintaining a uniform pressure notwithstanding variation made by shrinking or swelling of the wooden parts from moisture or dryness in the atmosphere.

The parts of a table shown or described and not embraced in my claims are shown or described to more clearly set forth the gist and purpose of my invention and to instruct others how to apply it, to dowhich the table-rails 2 2 are placed in the position shown at-Fig; 1 and one of the lugs 3 3 pushed into the mortise of each rail. Then the table-leg '7, which has previously had the bolt 6 attached to it, is put in place by first putting the extended end of the bolt 6 through the opening 8 of the plate and then placing the leg 7 in between the ends of the rails 2 2. Then by screwing the bolt 6 into the 4leg 7 the plate l will be drawn so the lugs 3 3 will be presed firmly against the bottom of the mortises in the rails 2 2 and the leg 7 will be pressed against the ends and firmly fixed in place.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A table-leg-fastening device, consisting` of a plate provided with an aperture to re- -ceive a suitable fastening means, a pair of ing centrally arranged between the said lugs,

said tongue and lugs being bent on different angles in relation to each other, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. A table-leg-fastening device, consisting of a plate provided with an aperture to receive suitable fastening means, andslitted at the ends toformlugs and tongues,said tongues and lugs being bent in opposite directions and angularly disposed in relation to each other, combined with the table side and end pieces having slots to receive the lugs, substantially as herein shown and described.

Signed at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, this 5th day of January, A. D. 1697.

t WILLIAM B. MCLEAN.

lVitnesses:

WILLIAM F. ROBE, ALLAN W. JoNEs. 

